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Most adolescent smokers report intentions to quit and the majority attempt cessation. Yet, little is known regarding the relationship between adolescent motives for cessation and smoking cessation efforts. To this end, the present study describes an initial evaluation of the psychometric characteristics of the Adolescent Reasons for Quitting scale (ARFQ), a measure of adolescent motives for smoking cessation. Participants were 109 current smoking high school students assessed at baseline and 6-month follow up. The ARFQ item content and format was developed in a separate qualitative study with 36 high school students who had previously attempted to quit smoking. Exploratory factor analyses of ARFQ items yielded three subscales: short-term consequences, social disapproval, and long-term concerns. Validation analyses were conducted in relation to concurrent intentions to stop smoking and prospective smoking cessation attempts, providing evidence of concurrent, predictive and discriminant validity. In particular, the social disapproval and long-term concern subscales significantly predicted subsequent cessation attempts. As such, the ARFQ may prove valuable for informing interventions to encourage adolescent smoking cessation.

We examined the association of parental disapproval of adolescent smoking and parental smoking status, with past smoking quit behaviors among daily-smoking, high school-aged adolescents, and also tested whether these associations differ for boys and girls. Adolescent regular smokers (N = 253) completed questions on smoking behaviors, past smoking cessation behaviors, parental disapproval of smoking, and parental smoking. Past smoking cessation behaviors were defined as “the number of quit attempts that lasted longer than 24 hours” and “the longest number of days of abstinence”. Logistic regression analyses showed that for all adolescents, even having one smoking parent was associated with decreased odds of being abstinent for longer than 2 days. However, for girls, not having any smoking parents was associated with greater duration of abstinence (> 2 weeks). Having both parents, compared with not having any parents disapprove of smoking, was associated with greater number of quit attempts in boys, but this effect was not found in girls. The results indicate that parents have a salient role in adolescent smoking cessation behaviors, and this association appears to be gender-specific. However, further research is needed to understand the mechanisms that explain gender differences in parental influence on adolescent smoking cessation behaviors.

Self-efficacy has been related to intent to stop smoking, abstinence success, and risk for relapse. Because limited attention has been given to self-efficacy among rural smokers, the current study examined correlates of self-efficacy among rural primary care patients smoking ≥ 10 cigarettes per day. Participants completed a telephone survey assessing demographics, smoking and medical history, social environment, self-efficacy, nicotine dependence, motivation for quitting, and depression. Among the 750 participants, higher self-efficacy was correlated with lower depression scores, longer length of previous abstinence period, higher autonomous motivation, older age, lower nicotine dependence, readiness to quit, and being male. By targeting characteristics associated with self-efficacy, health care providers may be able to better enhance self-efficacy in their efforts to help smokers quit.

Little is known about how initial change following a smoking intervention relates to longer-term smoking outcomes among adolescent smokers with psychiatric comorbidity. The present study investigated this relationship among psychiatrically hospitalized adolescents (N=183) who participated in a controlled trial comparing motivational interviewing to brief advice. Quit attempters (n=37), reducers (n=45), and maintainers (n=101) were assembled based on, respectively, having made a quit attempt, having reduced smoking by at least 50%, and having reduced smoking by less than 50% in the first week after hospital discharge. Hierarchical linear models and generalized estimating equations were conducted to test group differences in average number of cigarettes per smoking day and odds of making a quit attempt during subsequent weeks of a 12-month continuous follow-up, and in cotinine-verified abstinence rates at 1, 6, and 12 months posthospitalization. Baseline smoking levels and presence of a substance use disorder or anxiety disorder were predictive of outcomes. After controlling for covariates, we found that quit attempters smoked less during follow-up than did the other change groups and that reducers smoked less than maintainers. Quit attempters evidenced a higher percentage of quit attempts during follow-up than did the other change groups. Reducers had a greater average percentage of quit attempts during follow-up than did maintainers. However, groups did not differ on cotinine-verified abstinence rates across the follow-up period. Findings have implications for initial post-treatment change as it relates to subsequent smoking and cessation outcomes among adolescent smokers at especially high risk for smoking persistence.

Objective

The current study tested whether neural activity in response to messages designed to help smokers quit could predict smoking reduction, above and beyond self-report.

Design

Using neural activity in an a priori region of interest (a subregion of medial prefrontal cortex [MPFC]), in response to ads designed to help smokers quit smoking, we prospectively predicted reductions in smoking in a community sample of smokers (N = 28) who were attempting to quit smoking. Smoking was assessed via expired carbon monoxide (CO; a biological measure of recent smoking) at baseline and 1 month following exposure to professionally developed quitting ads.

Results

A positive relationship was observed between activity in the MPFC region of interest and successful quitting (increased activity in MPFC was associated with a greater decrease in expired CO). The addition of neural activity to a model predicting changes in CO from self-reported intentions, self-efficacy, and ability to relate to the messages significantly improved model fit, doubling the variance explained ( Rself−report2=.15,Rself−report+neuralactivity2=.35,Rchange2=.20).

Conclusion: Neural activity is a useful complement to existing self-report measures. In this investigation, we extend prior work predicting behavior change based on neural activity in response to persuasive media to an important health domain and discuss potential psychological interpretations of the brain–behavior link. Our results support a novel use of neuroimaging technology for understanding the psychology of behavior change and facilitating health promotion.

There has been recent increased interest in utilizing motivational interviewing (MI) to increase adolescents readiness to quit smoking, but attempts to impact quit rates have thus far been discouraging. A better understanding of factors associated with adolescent readiness to quit smoking prior to receiving any intervention may provide guidance when tailoring future MI interventions in order to increase their effectiveness with this population. Adolescent smokers (N = 191) who had been admitted to a psychiatric hospital and enrolled in a clinical trial evaluating MI completed questionnaires that assessed smoking behavior and variables thought to be related to smoking. Confidence to quit smoking and negative beliefs about smoking were significant predictors of adolescents' baseline readiness to quit smoking. The failure to demonstrate relationships between health consequences and readiness suggest that caution may be warranted in the use of feedback, a common component of MI-based interventions. Such feedback tends to focus on health consequences, which was unrelated to adolescent baseline readiness to change smoking behavior in the current study. Parallels between current results and the Theory of Planned Behavior are discussed in consideration of developing more effective MI-based interventions for adolescent smokers.

Introduction:

Although a great deal of research has focused on measuring motivation and readiness to quit smoking, little research has assessed gross motivational changes after a smoker has made an attempt to quit smoking. Unlike previous single-item global measures of motivation to remain abstinent, we developed the abstinence-related motivational engagement (ARME) scale to evaluate the degree to which abstinence motivation is reflected by an ex-smoker’s daily experience in areas that include cognitive effort, priority, vigilance, and excitement. The aim of this study was to collect reliability and initial construct validity data on this new measure.

Methods:

Participants were 199 ex-smokers recruited from the community and smoking cessation Web sites. Participants completed online measures including a global motivation measure, the ARME scale, demographic questionnaire, and a measure of cessation self-efficacy.

Results:

The 16-item ARME questionnaire demonstrated high internal consistency reliability (α = .89). Analyses provided support for convergent, discriminant, and construct validity of the scale. ARME demonstrated the predicted correlation with a traditional measure of global cessation motivation, yet, also as predicted, only the ARME was negatively associated with length of abstinence. Moreover, as hypothesized, ex-smokers engaged in the quitting process via ongoing smoking Web site participation showed higher ARME scores than a comparison community sample. A five-item short form demonstrated similar psychometric properties.

Discussion:

This study provided initial support for the ARME construct and offers two versions of a reliable instrument for assessing this construct. Future research will examine the ARME as a predictor of cessation outcome and a potential target for relapse prevention.

Background

Smoking rates remain unacceptably high among individuals who are socially disadvantaged. Social and community service organisations (SCSO) are increasingly interested in providing smoking cessation support to clients, however little is known about the best way to assist disadvantaged smokers to quit in this setting. This study aimed to explore barriers and facilitators to quitting within the conceptual framework of the PRECEDE model to identify possible interventions appropriate to the social and community service setting.

Methods

Semi-structured focus groups were conducted with clients attending five community welfare organisations located in New South Wales, Australia. Thirty-two clients participated in six focus groups. A discussion guide was used to explore the barriers and facilitators to smoking and smoking cessation including: current smoking behaviour, motivation to quit, past quit attempts, barriers to quitting and preferences for cessation support. Focus groups were audio-taped, transcribed and analysed using thematic analysis techniques.

Results

Participants were current smokers and most expressed a desire to quit. Factors predisposing continued smoking included perceived benefits of smoking for stress relief, doubting of ability to quit, fear of gaining weight, and poor knowledge and scepticism about available quit support. The high cost of nicotine replacement therapy was a barrier to its use. Continual exposure to smoking in personal relationships and in the community reinforced smoking. Participants expressed a strong preference for personalised quit support.

Conclusions

Disadvantaged smokers in Australia express a desire to quit smoking, but find quitting difficult for a number of reasons. SCSOs may have a role in providing information about the availability of quit support, engaging disadvantaged smokers with available quit support, and providing personalised, ongoing support.

Pictorial health warnings on cigarette packs create aversive emotional reactions to smoking and induce thoughts about quitting; however, contrary to models of health behavior change, they do not appear to alter intentions to quit smoking. We propose and test a novel model of intention to quit an addictive habit such as smoking (the efficacy-desire model) that can explain this paradoxical effect. At the core of the model is the prediction that self-efficacy and desire to quit an addictive habit are inversely related. We tested the model in an online experiment that randomly exposed smokers (N = 3297) to a cigarette pack with one of three increasing levels of warning intensity. The results supported the model’s prediction that despite the effects of warnings on aversion to smoking, intention to quit smoking is an inverted U-shape function of the smoker’s self-efficacy for quitting. In addition, smokers with greater (lesser) quit efficacy relative to smoking efficacy increase (decrease) intentions to quit. The findings show that previous failures to observe effects of pictorial warning labels on quit intentions can be explained by the contradictory individual differences that warnings produce. Thus, the model explains the paradoxical finding that quit intentions do not change at the population level, even though smokers recognize the implications of warnings. The model suggests that pictorial warnings are effective for smokers with stronger quit-efficacy beliefs and provides guidance for how cigarette warnings and tobacco control strategies can be designed to help smokers quit.

Background

The majority of Polish smokers declare their will to quit smoking and many of them attempt to quit. Although morbidity and mortality from tobacco-related diseases are among the highest in the world, there is a lack of comprehensive cessation support for smokers. We aimed to investigate how Poles, including the medically ill, cope with quitting cigarettes and what their motivations to quit are.

Methods

Convenience sampling was used for the purpose of the study. Individuals attending several health care units were screened for a history of quit attempts. Ex-smokers were defined as smoking previously at least one cigarette/day but who have no longer been smoking for at least one month. Attempts at quitting were defined as abstaining from cigarettes for at least one day. Data on socio-demographics, tobacco use, quitting behaviors and reasons to quit from 618 subjects (385 ex- and 233 current smokers) who fulfilled these criteria were collected with the use of a questionnaire. For the comparison of proportions, a chi-square test was used.

Results

In the entire study population, 77% of smokers attempted to quit smoking on their own and a similar proportion of smokers (76%) used the cold turkey method when quitting. Current smokers were more likely than former smokers to use some form of aid (p = 0.0001), mainly nicotine replacement therapy (68%). The most important reasons for quitting smoking were: general health concern (57%), personal health problems (32%) and social reasons (32%). However, 41% of smokers prompted to quitting by personal health problems related to tobacco smoking did not see the link between the two. A small proportion of ex-smokers (3%) abstaining from cigarettes for longer than a year were not confident about their self-efficacy to sustain abstinence further.

Conclusion

The majority of Polish smokers, including patients with tobacco-related diseases, attempt to quit without smoking cessation assistance, thus there is a need for a broader professional help for them. There is also a lack of general information on hazards related to tobacco and further anti-tobacco campaigns in media are needed. Finally, former smokers should be given more attention and periodic inquiries regarding the smoking habit are worthwhile.

The task persistence construct has previously been measured primarily behaviorally (e.g., with a mirror-tracing task, or breath holding), and only in adults. It has been shown to differentiate between adult smokers and non-smokers and to predict smoking cessation in adult smokers trying to quit. This theory-based analysis is the first to examine task persistence in adolescent smokers and to examine a two-item, internally consistent, self-report measure of task persistence. Results indicate that task persistence is greater among adolescent non-smokers as compared to adolescent current smokers, and those planning to quit smoking as compared to those with no plans to quit. Contrary to hypotheses, task persistence was not found to be related to prior successful attempts to quit smoking. Our results suggest that a brief, self-report measure of task persistence may be a methodologically sound, practical clinical tool for this population.

Cigarette smoking expectancies are systematically related to intention to quit smoking in adult smokers without psychiatric illness, but little is known about these relationships in smokers with serious mental illness. In this study, we compared positive and negative smoking expectancies, and examined relationships between expectancies and intention to quit smoking, in smokers with schizophrenia (n = 46), smokers with schizoaffective disorder (n = 35), and smokers without psychiatric illness (n = 71). In all three groups, reduction of negative affect was rated as the most important smoking expectancy and intention to quit smoking was systematically related to concerns about the health effects and social consequences of smoking. Compared to the other groups of smokers, those with schizoaffective disorder were more concerned with social expectancies and with the immediate negative physical effects of smoking. Results of this study suggest that challenging positive smoking expectancies and providing more tailored information about the negative consequences of smoking might increase motivation to quit smoking in smokers with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, as has been found with non-psychiatric smokers.

Objective:To test the hypothesis that among adolescent smokers hospitalised for psychiatric and substance use disorders, motivational interviewing (MI) would lead to more and longer quit attempts, reduced smoking, and more abstinence from smoking over a 12 month follow up.

Design:Randomised control trial of MI versus brief advice (BA) for smoking cessation, with pre- and post-intervention assessment of self efficacy and intentions to change, and smoking outcome variables assessed at one, three, six, nine, and 12 month follow ups.

Setting:A private, university affiliated psychiatric hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Patients or other participants:Consecutive sample (n = 191) of 13–17 year olds, admitted for psychiatric hospitalisation, who smoked at least one cigarette per week for the past four weeks, had access to a telephone, and did not meet DSM-IV criteria for current psychotic disorder.

Interventions:MI versus BA. MI consisted of two, 45 minute individual sessions, while BA consisted of 5–10 minutes of advice and information on how to quit smoking. Eligible participants in both conditions were offered an eight week regimen of transdermal nicotine patch upon hospital discharge.

Main outcome measures:Point prevalence abstinence, quit attempts, changes in smoking rate and longest quit attempt. Proximal outcomes included intent to change smoking behaviour (upon hospital discharge), and self efficacy for smoking cessation.

Results:MI did not lead to better smoking outcomes compared to BA. MI was more effective than BA for increasing self efficacy regarding ability to quit smoking. A significant interaction of treatment with baseline intention to quit smoking was also found. MI was more effective than BA for adolescents with little or no intention to change their smoking, but was actually less effective for adolescents with pre-existing intention to cut down or quit smoking. However, the effects on these variables were relatively modest and only moderately related to outcome. Adolescents with comorbid substance use disorders smoked more during follow up while those with anxiety disorders smoked less and were more likely to be abstinent.

Conclusions:The positive effect of MI on self efficacy for quitting and the increase in intention to change in those with initially low levels of intentions suggest the benefits of such an intervention. However, the effects on these variables were relatively modest and only moderately related to outcome. The lack of overall effect of MI on smoking cessation outcomes suggests the need to further enhance and intensify this type of treatment approach for adolescent smokers with psychiatric comorbidity.

Objective

To test the hypothesis that among adolescent smokers hospitalised for psychiatric and substance use disorders, motivational interviewing (MI) would lead to more and longer quit attempts, reduced smoking, and more abstinence from smoking over a 12 month follow up.

Design

Randomised control trial of MI versus brief advice (BA) for smoking cessation, with pre- and post-intervention assessment of self efficacy and intentions to change, and smoking outcome variables assessed at one, three, six, nine, and 12 month follow ups.

Setting

A private, university affiliated psychiatric hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.

Patients or other participants

Consecutive sample (n = 191) of 13–17 year olds, admitted for psychiatric hospitalisation, who smoked at least one cigarette per week for the past four weeks, had access to a telephone, and did not meet DSM-IV criteria for current psychotic disorder.

Interventions

MI versus BA. MI consisted of two, 45 minute individual sessions, while BA consisted of 5–10 minutes of advice and information on how to quit smoking. Eligible participants in both conditions were offered an eight week regimen of transdermal nicotine patch upon hospital discharge.

Main outcome measures

Point prevalence abstinence, quit attempts, changes in smoking rate and longest quit attempt. Proximal outcomes included intent to change smoking behaviour (upon hospital discharge), and self efficacy for smoking cessation.

Results

MI did not lead to better smoking outcomes compared to BA. MI was more effective than BA for increasing self efficacy regarding ability to quit smoking. A significant interaction of treatment with baseline intention to quit smoking was also found. MI was more effective than BA for adolescents with little or no intention to change their smoking, but was actually less effective for adolescents with pre-existing intention to cut down or quit smoking. However, the effects on these variables were relatively modest and only moderately related to outcome. Adolescents with comorbid substance use disorders smoked more during follow up while those with anxiety disorders smoked less and were more likely to be abstinent.

Conclusions

The positive effect of MI on self efficacy for quitting and the increase in intention to change in those with initially low levels of intentions suggest the benefits of such an intervention. However, the effects on these variables were relatively modest and only moderately related to outcome. The lack of overall effect of MI on smoking cessation outcomes suggests the need to further enhance and intensify this type of treatment approach for adolescent smokers with psychiatric comorbidity.

Objective

To examine the effect of smoking regulations in local restaurants on anti‐smoking attitudes and quitting behaviours among adult smokers.

Design

Hierarchical linear modelling (HLM) was used to assess the relationship between baseline strength of town‐level restaurant smoking regulation and follow‐up (1) perceptions of the social acceptability of smoking and (2) quitting behaviours.

Setting

Each of the 351 Massachusetts towns was classified as having strong (complete smoking ban) or weak (all other and no smoking restrictions) restaurant smoking regulations.

Subjects

1712 adult smokers of Massachusetts aged ⩾18 years at baseline who were interviewed via random‐digit‐dial telephone survey in 2001–2 and followed up 2 years later.

Main outcome measures

Perceived social acceptability of smoking in restaurants and bars, and making a quit attempt and quitting smoking.

Results

Among adult smokers who had made a quit attempt at baseline, living in a town with a strong regulation was associated with a threefold increase in the odds of making a quit attempt at follow‐up (OR = 3.12; 95% CI 1.51 to 6.44). Regulation was found to have no effect on cessation at follow‐up. A notable, although marginal, effect of regulation was observed for perceiving smoking in bars as socially unacceptable only among smokers who reported at baseline that smoking in bars was socially unacceptable.

Conclusions

Although local restaurant smoking regulations did not increase smoking cessation rates, they did increase the likelihood of making a quit attempt among smokers who had previously tried to quit, and seem to reinforce anti‐social smoking norms among smokers who already viewed smoking in bars as socially unacceptable.

Objective: To assess the degree to which smokers living with a full household ban on smoking change their cessation related behaviour.

Design, setting, and participants: Prospective cohort study; follow up of a population based cohort of 1133 smokers, identified from a 1997 telephone survey of adult Oregonians. After a median of 21 months, 565 were located and reinterviewed.

Main outcome measures: Quit attempts, time until relapse, and smoking cessation, defined as seven day and 90 day sustained abstinence at follow up.

Results: A full ban at baseline was associated with a doubling of the odds of a subsequent quit attempt (odds ratio (OR) = 2.0, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.0 to 3.9). Among respondents in the preparation stage at baseline (intention to quit in the next month with a quit attempt in the previous year), a full ban was associated with a lower relapse rate (hazard ratio = 0.5 (95% CI, 0.2 to 0.9)), while for those in precontemplation/contemplation (no intention to quit or intention to quit within the next six months, respectively), there was no significant association between full ban and relapse rate. For respondents in preparation, those with a full ban had over four times the odds of being in cessation for seven or more days before the follow up call (OR = 4.4 (1.1 to 18.7)), but for those in precontemplation/contemplation, full bans were unrelated to cessation.

Conclusions: Full household bans may facilitate cessation among smokers who are preparing to quit by increasing quit attempts. They may also prolong time to relapse among those smokers.

BACKGROUND:

Physician advice increases quit rates 1% to 3% above unassisted quit rates among adults, an increase sufficient to be ranked as a high-priority, evidence-based preventive service. However, there is little research on the potential impact of physician advice on adolescent smoking.

OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this study was to examine the association between recalled physician communication and adolescents' attitudes toward smoking, knowledge about smoking, intentions to smoke, tobacco use, and quitting behaviors.

METHODS:

This study was a retrospective observational study of 5154 students (82.9% black, 17.1% white) from an urban, mid-South school system. Outcome variables included adolescents' self-rated attitudes toward smoking, knowledge about smoking, intentions to smoke, tobacco use, and quitting behaviors.

RESULTS:

Physician advice and the combination of screening and advice were associated with healthier attitudes about smoking. Physician screening and advice were also associated with a more accurate knowledge regarding tobacco-related damage. Among current smokers, recalled physician advice was also associated with reduced intentions to smoke in 5 years. Importantly, advised teens were more likely to plan to quit smoking in 6 months. Furthermore, teens who were screened by their physician reported significantly more quit attempts than those who were neither screened nor advised (P = .007).

CONCLUSIONS:

Physician's tobacco-related interactions with adolescents seemed to positively impact their attitudes, knowledge, intentions to smoke, and quitting behaviors. Brief physician interventions have the potential to be a key intervention on a public health level through the prevention, cessation, and reduction of smoking and smoking-related disease.

Smokers’ expectancies regarding the effects of cigarette use are powerful predictors of smoking motivation and behavior. However, studies have not investigated the consequences that smokers expect when they attempt to quit smoking: abstinence-related expectancies. The primary goal of this qualitative study was to gain initial insight into smokers’ expectancies for abstinence. Eight focus groups were conducted with 30 smokers diverse with respect to age, gender, and ethnoracial background. Content analyses indicated that smokers anticipate a variety of outcomes from abstinence. The most frequently reported expectancies included pharmacologic withdrawal symptoms, behavioral withdrawal symptoms, decreased monetary expense, and immediate improvement of certain aspects of physical functioning and health. Additional expectancies concerned weight gain, improved attractiveness, enhanced social functioning/self-esteem, long-term health outcomes, and loss of relationships. Finally, a number of relatively unheralded expectancies were revealed. These involved NRT effectiveness, alcohol and other drug use, vigilance to cue reactivity, cessation-related social support, aversion to smoking, and “political process” implications. This study provides a preliminary step in understanding smokers’ expectancies for abstinence from cigarettes.

Introduction:

Lower socioeconomic status (SES) groups have higher rates of tobacco use, are less likely to successfully quit, and may also be less likely to intend or attempt to quit. However, results are inconsistent for some outcomes, and little is known about how socioeconomic disparities vary across countries and over time.

Methods:

This study examined the associations between SES and quitting-related behaviors among representative samples of smokers in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, using data from the first five waves (2002–2006/2007) of the International Tobacco Control Four Country Survey (35,532 observations from 16,458 respondents). Generalized estimating equations modeling was used to examine whether education and income were related to intentions to quit, incidence of quit attempts, and smoking abstinence. Potential differences in the associations over time and across countries were also considered.

Results:

Smokers with higher education were more likely to intend to quit, to make a quit attempt, and to be abstinent for at least 1 and 6 months; smokers with higher income were more likely to intend to quit and to be abstinent for at least 1 month. Some between-country differences were observed: U.K. and U.S. smokers were less likely to intend to quit than Australians and Canadians; and, although U.K. respondents were least likely to attempt to quit, those that did were more likely to be abstinent.

Discussion:

The results suggest that socioeconomic disparities exist at multiple stages in the path to smoking cessation. Potential effects on socioeconomic disparities should be considered when implementing cessation interventions.

Introduction:

Smoking cessation interventions for adolescents in substance abuse treatment have shown promise. However, a better understanding of the correlates of substance use disordered (SUD) youths' intentions toward smoking cessation will help tailor cessation interventions to this population. The current study examined tobacco use, smoking-related self-efficacy, substance use and intentions to quit using alcohol and illicit drugs as correlates of intentions to quit smoking among youth in SUD treatment.

Methods:

Participants were 178 adolescents who were in inpatient (n=90) or outpatient (n= 88) SUD treatment and had smoked at least once in the past 30 days. The sample was 44% female, 72% non-Hispanic Caucasian, with a mean age of 16.2 years (SD=1.2). Participants rated the likelihood that they would be nonsmokers in the next year (9-point scale).

Results:

SUD youth intention to quit smoking averaged 4.9 out of 10 (SD=3.2), comparable to intention to quit drinking (M=5.3, SD=3.6), but lower than their intention to quit using drugs (M=6.0, SD=3.4). Teens' intentions to quit smoking were associated with nicotine dependence (r=−.30, p<.01) and smoking-cessation related self-efficacy (r=.36, p<.01), but not with pretreatment substance use severity (r=−.15). Controlling for nicotine dependence, teens' intentions to quit smoking were positively related to smoking cessation self-efficacy (pr=.26, p<.01) and intention to quit using illicit drugs (pr=.15, p<.05), but unrelated to intention to quit drinking.

Discussion:

Findings highlight the appropriateness of addressing adolescent tobacco use during SUD treatment, but emphasize the importance of assessing intention and other cognitions for each substance, as they may differ markedly.

Smoking prevalence among Vietnamese American males remains higher than the U.S. general population. This study examined the associations of individual and family factors with quit intention among Vietnamese male smokers in California to guide intervention development to reduce their smoking prevalence. Data for Vietnamese male current smokers (n = 234) in the 2008 California Vietnamese Adult Tobacco Use Survey (N=1,101 males) were analyzed to describe quit intention and previous quit attempts. One-third of Vietnamese male smokers (33%) had no intention to quit at any time, 36% intended to quit soon (in the next 30 days), and 31% intended to quit later (beyond the next 30 days). Half (51.7%) of the sample was in “precontemplation,” indicating no intention to quit within 6 months. Many (71%) had made a serious quit attempt in the past year, but 68% of those who tried to quit used no cessation assistance. Multivariate logistic regression adjusting for age, depression, smoking intensity, nicotine dependence, health knowledge, children in the household and home smoking ban revealed that having smoking-related family conflicts and a quit attempt in the past year with or without assistance were independently associated with an intention to quit either in the next 30 days or later. Higher education was associated with no intention to quit. Findings underscore the importance of designing strategic interventions that meet the needs of smokers at both individual and family levels to promote quit intention and to facilitate successful quitting in this population.

The present investigation examined intrinsic and extrinsic reasons for quitting among daily cigarette smokers with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as compared to clinical daily smokers with other anxiety and mood disorders (AM) and daily smokers with no current axis I psychopathology (C) prior to a self-guided quit attempt. It was hypothesized that (1) the PTSD group would report greater intrinsic (i.e., self-control and health concerns) reasons for quitting smoking, and (2) among those with PTSD, anxiety sensitivity (fear of anxiety; AS) would predict greater intrinsic reasons for quitting smoking. Participants were 143 (58.7% female; Mage = 29.66 years, SD = 11.88) daily cigarette smokers. Partially consistent with prediction, the PTSD group reported significantly greater self-control intrinsic reasons for quitting, but not health concern intrinsic reasons, than the C group (p <.01). The PTSD group also reported greater immediate reinforcement extrinsic reasons for quitting than the C group (p <.05). The PTSD and AM groups did not significantly differ on any reasons for quitting. Also partially consistent with hypotheses, higher levels of anxiety sensitivity in daily smokers with axis I psychopathology (both PTSD and AM groups) significantly predicted greater self-control intrinsic reasons for quitting. AS did not significantly predict immediate reinforcement extrinsic reasons for quitting. The current findings suggest that individuals with PTSD and other psychopathology may have unique motivations for quitting smoking that could be usefully explored within smoking cessation treatment programs.

Background

Experiencing a serious consequence related to one’s health behavior may motivate behavior change.

Purpose

This study sought to examine how causal attribution, perceived illness severity, and fear secondary to an acute health event relate to intentions to quit smoking.

Methods

Using a cross-sectional survey design, adult emergency department patients who smoked provided demographic data and ratings of nicotine dependence, causal attribution, perceived illness severity, event-related fear, and intentions to quit smoking.

Results

A linear regression analysis was used to examine the relations between the independent variables and quit intentions. We enrolled 186 participants. After adjusting for nicotine dependence, smoking-related causal attribution and event-related fear were associated with intentions to quit (β=0.26, p<0.01 and β=0.21, p<0.01, respectively). Perceived illness severity was correlated with event-related fear (r=0.46, p<0.001) but was not associated with intentions to quit (β=−0.08, p=0.32).

Conclusion

While causal attribution and event-related fear were modestly associated with quit intentions, perceived illness severity was not. Longitudinal studies are needed to better explicate the relation between these variables and behavior change milestones.

Background

Although many women quit smoking during pregnancy, most resume smoking postpartum. One factor that may be important in postpartum relapse is a pregnant woman's motivation to remain abstinent after delivery.

Purpose

We assessed motivation for postpartum abstinence among pregnant women who had quit smoking and examined the relationship of weight concerns and mood to abstinence motivation.

Methods

Pregnant former smokers, recruited between February 2000 and November 2004, completed assessments of smoking, weight concerns, depressive symptoms, and perceived stress.

Results

Sixty-five percent were highly motivated to remain abstinent postpartum. Women who were and were not motivated were similar in age, race, and nicotine dependence. However, motivated women reported more stress, greater self-efficacy for weight management, less hunger, and less smoking for weight control than did less motivated women. After controlling for intention to breast-feed, nicotine dependence, years of smoking, partner smoking, and race, self-efficacy for weight control was related to motivation to maintain postpartum abstinence.

Conclusions

These data suggest that weight concerns are associated with motivation for postpartum smoking abstinence, and interventions designed to prevent postpartum smoking relapse may need to target eating, weight, and shape concerns.

Background

The relationship between subjective social status (SSS), a person's perception of his/her relative position in the social hierarchy, and the ability to achieve long-term smoking abstinence during a specific quit attempt is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between SSS and long-term smoking abstinence among 421 racially/ethnically diverse smokers undergoing a specific quit attempt, as well as the interactive effects of race/ethnicity and sex.

Methods

The main effects and moderated relationships of SSS on biochemically-confirmed, continuous smoking abstinence through 26 weeks post-quit were examined using continuation ratio logit models adjusted for sociodemographics and smoking characteristics.

Results

Even after adjusting for the influence of socioeconomic status and other covariates, smokers endorsing lower SSS were significantly less likely to maintain long-term smoking abstinence during a specific quit attempt than those with higher SSS (OR = 1.14, 95% CI: 1.00 - 1.28; p = 0.044). The statistical significance of this relationship, however, did not vary by race/ethnicity or sex.

Conclusions

SSS independently predicts long-term smoking abstinence during a specific quit attempt. SSS may be a useful screener to identify smokers at elevated risk of relapse who may require additional attention to facilitate long-term abstinence. More research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between SSS and long-term smoking abstinence in order to appropriately tailor treatment to facilitate abstinence among lower SSS smokers.